Fraud teacher simultaneously teaching in 25 schools arrested

Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service
Lucknow, June 6

A school teacher was arrested on Saturday at Kasganj for outwitting the Department of Basic Education by simultaneously teaching at 25 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhayayas (KGBV) residential schools for girls from the weaker sections.

An FIR had been lodged against Anamika Shukla at Baghpat on Friday. Cases have also been filed against some other women impersonating her at the different schools where they were teaching on contract basis.

She was a full-time science teacher at the Faridpur KGBV in Kasganj where she had collected Rs 4.57 lakh as honorarium since August 2018. However, during the last 13 months, Anamika Shukla had also collected Rs 1 crore as honorarium for teaching in another 25 KGBVs.

On Friday, the Kasganj BSA had sent her a notice asking her for an explanation. She was also asked to submit the original copies of all her documents. Her salary for May had also been held up.

After receiving the notice on WhatsApp on Friday evening she sent her resignation letter through a youth to the Kasganj BSA office on Saturday.

When the youth was questioned about Shukla’s whereabouts he said that she was waiting in a car outside the office. Following this, BSA Anjali Aggarwal informed the police and she was soon placed under custody.

Soron police station in-charge Ripudaman Singh said police were questioning Singh.

According to BSA Anjali Aggarwal, Shukla’s fraud was exposed when the Department of Basic Education launched its online portal recently.

When the information regarding all teachers was uploaded on the Human Resource portal of the Department of Basic Education, Kasganj BSA received a letter from the portal office that on a fake ID Anamika Shukla was working on contract basis at the Faridpur KGBV at Kasganj and living on the campus.

On entering the name of Anamika Shukla in Baghpat it became clear that several people with the same name were also teaching at 24 other KGBV schools of Mainpuri, Ambedkarnagar, Ayodhya, Aligarh, Saharanpur and Prayagraj.

Director General Basic Education Vijay Kiran Anand told reporters that the matter was being investigated when it became clear that the honorarium was going to the same bank account.

The FIR was lodged only after the completion of the investigation in the other districts as well.

According to the Kasganj BSA, Anamika Shukla, originally a resident of Kaimganj in Farukhabad, is currently doing her B.Ed from Raghukul Degree College in Gonda. Her other documents are also from the same college. A Mainpuri resident called Raj had helped her acquire these forged documents at the cost of Rs 5 lakh.